Breadcrumbs
by Tachyon II
Summary: A post-Endgame story. Chakotay wakes up and finds a piece of paper on his bed, which leads him on the search of another, and another…


Chakotay woke up. He took a glance to his right and noticed that she had already left. He sighed. It was not like her to leave without saying. Usually her kiss goodbye had woken him up, if nothing else. But this morning was different than the mornings before this. This morning he felt like there was a gap between them, which had not been there before.

Chakotay closed his eyes. After their lovemaking he had spoken his thoughts out loud, he had revealed his wish, but without thinking further. It had happened in a matter of few seconds after which things had not been the same again. She had been speechless, unable to answer, but the look in her eyes had told him enough. She had not expected to hear something like that from him. And why not? That Chakotay didn't know. She must have known by now that he loved her and she did love him too. Why else would she have spent more time in his house than in her own apartment in San Francisco? But her silence had bothered him and it still did. And he had to acknowledge the chance that maybe they weren't on the same page after all. Maybe she didn't want same things as he did. It was a disappointing thought, even though he had decided long ago that he would take whatever she was willing to give. And she had given plenty.

But he had started to want more. He wanted it all. But that "_all"_ lost meaning, if he was unable to share it with her. But her silence last night was a clear sign of uncertainty and it pained him. How much longer did he have to wait until he didn't have to keep guessing any longer?

Chakotay sighed and threw his right arm on the smooth mattress where she had slept not so long ago. Suddenly he felt something against his skin, something that did not belong in the softness of the bed. It was a piece of paper.

Chakotay opened his eyes and turned on his right side. He picked the small folded piece of white paper in his hand and opened it. There was writing on it. It was hers, he knew that. There were four lines written on it with black ink. She must have used his ancient pen from 21st century.

_Luxuriant jungles or a planet of sand,_

_grandiose cities or a sacred land._

_No one ever knows where our paths may lead,_

_but there's still Something Kolopak will keep._

A poem.

No – a riddle.

Chakotay smiled. This was unexpected to say the least. But his woman was full of surprises, he must have had known that by now. So what had she been doing during the night while he had been sleeping? Chakotay got out of the bed and headed downstairs. She had mentioned his father in the riddle, and places like jungles and sacred lands. What his father always kept with him in such places was, of course, his expedition hat.

Chakotay couldn't resist smiling while he headed downstairs. Once there he walked directly to his coat rack. He lifted his hat, which was very much similar with the one his father had used to wear. His sister had given it to him when they had first met after almost ten years apart. Suddenly another piece of paper dropped from the hat's brim on the floor. Chakotay kneeled down, placed the hat on the brown carpet and took the piece of paper in his hand. He unfolded it and read:

_They were small, but years so unique and treasured._

_For seven years their quantity was attentively measured. _

_How they were salvaged, is a mystery still today, _

_a question that needs an answer one day._

Chakotay laughed. "Oh love…" he whispered. "Who would have thought you are a poet as well?"

Chakotay got up, turned around and headed to the kitchen. He opened a fridge, had a quick look at its contents, until took the five bottles of cider out. He explored them, turned them around on his hands, but found nothing.

"Hmm…" he murmured. "For seven years their quantity was attentively measured," he said as he wondered, if the second row of the four-lined riddle had some significant meaning he needed to pay special attention to.

And then he realized that "seven years" did set some significant limits for his search. She didn't mean just any bottles of cider, but the ones he had had with him in the Delta Quadrant – the _unique_ bottles of Antarian Cider he had _treasured_ in the cargo bay. He still had one of the bottles left. It was emptied a long time ago, but he kept it on his bookshelf.

Chakotay put the bottles back in the fridge, closed the door, until walked to his living room. And before he was even next to his bookshelf, he was already able to see something white inside the empty bottle, which was located in front of the black covered books. Chakotay couldn't help but smile. Once by the bookshelf, he took the bottle and turned it upside down. It took a little effort to get the rolled piece of paper out of it, but once it finally dropped out, he opened it and discovered another four lines of handwritten words.

_It was an encounter under a burning sun, _

_when Kes' adventure had just begun._

_Now it seems like a story, so ancient and old, _

_where something so Common meant more than gold. _

Kes. The Ocampa. Burning sun obviously referred to the certain fifth planet of a G-type star in the Delta Quadrant – The Ocampa home world. A word "common" had been written with a capital C, and therefore it had to be the keyword in this case. And the first thing that came to Chakotay's mind was water.

Water. The next piece of paper was hidden in water. Chakotay turned around and sighed. And suddenly his smile widened again - his fish tank.

"I don't believe this…" he said and laughed.

He walked to the fish tank and bent over to observe it closer. Suddenly he saw something against the small shipwreck ship in the left side of the tank. It was a capsule of some kind, which undoubtedly had to contain a piece of paper for him to read.

Chakotay removed the lamp and put his right hand in the cool water. Carefully her took the small capsule in his fingers and lifted it from the water. Once the lamp was placed safely on the top of the fish tank again, he opened the grey capsule and found a little piece of paper in it. In rolled it open and read:

_From mutual dislike to shared respect,_

_no one knew what there was to expect._

_But once the respect turned into love,_

_there was__ Third one, like sent from above._

This time Chakotay was not instantly able to figure out the location of his next clue. Third one? What could that mean?

Chakotay sat on the couch and sighed. He read the riddle one more time, but he couldn't figure out what it meant. Suddenly he felt his stomach rumble. He threw the white piece of paper on the table and got up on his feet. Perhaps he would be more alert and inventive with a full stomach, he decided. But then a framed picture on the side table caught his eye. It was a family portrait of B'Elanna, Tom and baby Miral.

Chakotay couldn't help but laugh. He took the picture, turned it around, and saw a piece of paper attached to the wooden frame.

"Unbelievable…" he said with a wide smile and shook his head.

He placed the picture back on the table until folded the paper open. Again there were four lines of words written on it.

_It comes with water and soap as well, _

_it may be wooden as far as I can tell._

_It embraces you after demanding days, _

_relaxes you in so many wonderful __ways._

"This is too easy, Love", he said. Then he walked towards the bathroom without a doubt in his mind. Once there he peeked to the bathtub. There was a piece of paper there to be found. Chakotay picked it up, unfolded it and read:

_The little ones, which kept us out from harm,_

_broke down and the air got quickly too warm._

_The Source had to be found before the fall, _

_which was located__ in the middle of mess hall._

"What on Earth…?" Chakotay wondered aloud as he read the riddle one more time while walking out of the bathroom. "Air too warm…. located in mess hall… Source written with capital S…"

Then he halted. "No you didn't…" he said and laughed. "You crazy woman."

Chakotay walked to the kitchen, opened the fridge again and searched the piece of cheese he knew he had. Finally he found it behind the vegetables he had acquired from the market place in Buenos Aires yesterday. He took the cheese out of the fridge and placed it on the counter, which located between his kitchen and living room. Then he investigated the yellow block in his hands. During their first year in the Delta Quadrant Neelix's cheese experiment had been the source of infection for Voyager's bio-neural gel packs. The only way to "cure" the ship from the infection was to rise the temperature onboard Voyager. Suddenly Chakotay observed a small hole on the cheese's yellow surface that was clearly something that had not originally been there.

Chakotay took a knife and sliced a corner piece off. Then he saw a small grey capsule in the middle of the cheese.

"How on Earth did you manage to put this thing in here?" he wondered aloud.

Once he had the little capsule in his hands, he opened it and found another piece of paper in it. He rolled it open and read:

_Hi Honey, _

_I know I should have said something last nigh, but __I was completely at a loss of words. Something like that does not happen to me often, as you may already know, and now I am writing this, because I don't want you to misread my silence. _

_I want the same thing too, Chakotay. So yes – I will marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. __I think we both already know by now that there won't be any others for us. So you are right – there is no reason for us to not making this official. I guess our attempt to keep this private made me forget that it wouldn't be like this forever between us. And it shouldn't either. _

_I am going to be on Mars today, but w__hen I come back on Earth tomorrow, I will come back to you. I will come home – our home. So I guess that for now on there will be more than just a toothbrush and extra uniform to remind you of my presence there. So yes – I will finally move out from my San Francisco apartment. I never really liked it in the first place._

_I will call you later. _

_I love you__ so much._

_-Kathryn_

Chakotay read her letter one more time until switched on his coffee maker and sighed. He had never been happier in his life.


End file.
